How to make obstacles?

The lady who is boarding our horse will pay my husband to make some horse obstacles for her, ideally with junk she has sitting around the farm (e.g. old tires, old 4x4s, random lumber, old pallets, and whatever other random junk is out there). Does anyone have any advice for this? Particularly, since we are new to the idea of obstacles, are there some things that he DEFINITELY needs to not do. For instance, I thought that when you were making a pole to jump that the pole should sit loosely on top of the risers so it would fall off and absorb the impact, rather than the horse absorbing the impact, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I would love some ideas on obstacles that he could make, but even more so some ideas on what he should NOT do, for safety's sake.

What kind of obstacles are these supposed to be? Cross country jumps(eventing)? Show jumps(eventing, show jumping)? Western obstacles for trail classes? Making eventing or showjumping obstacles incorrectly could be a really serious safety issue. Especially easily dislodged poles. For show jumping special 'jump cups' are purchased and the cups are put usually on a specific side of the jump. There's a design to follow for the vertical supports so they are stable enough. And the horizontal poles need to be the same thickness throughout, heavy, wood. Jumping over plastic pipe, tubing or other materials can be very dangerous.

Some eventing obstacles are very carefully designed so a section can be knocked down by a specific amount of force, preventing a 'rotational fall' (tends to be very dangerous for horse and rider).

The lady who is boarding our horse will pay my husband to make some horse obstacles for her, ideally with junk she has sitting around the farm (e.g. old tires, old 4x4s, random lumber, old pallets, and whatever other random junk is out there). Does anyone have any advice for this? Particularly, since we are new to the idea of obstacles, are there some things that he DEFINITELY needs to not do. For instance, I thought that when you were making a pole to jump that the pole should sit loosely on top of the risers so it would fall off and absorb the impact, rather than the horse absorbing the impact, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I would love some ideas on obstacles that he could make, but even more so some ideas on what he should NOT do, for safety's sake.

I would start by asking the woman exactly what she wants. And as slc said, it matters what discipline they are for, at least to a point.

I will point out, if he is making anything that the horse will get on top of, like a platform or a "bridge," it must be made to withstand the weight of the horse, plus the tack, plus the rider. Old pallets are not good for this unless so reinforced that they're not really old pallets anymore.

No protruding nails or pieces of wood. No sharp edges. Nothing with holes that a hoof can go in. Really, common sense applies to a lot of this but again, I'd start with finding out exactly what she's thinking of.

What kind of obstacles are these supposed to be? Cross country jumps(eventing)? Show jumps(eventing, show jumping)? Western obstacles for trail classes?.

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This lady is really vague. She just wants "obstacles." Based on what she's currently doing, I'd say Western obstacles mostly. I don't think anyone out there is ready for jumps, although I was thinking maybe we could lay some loose poles down for trotting over. We were also thinking of using tires stacked up as "barrels" and some tires lined up that the horses would have to step (slowly) in. Also one of those pool noodle things that the horses have to walk through.

Personally, I would nix any tires for the horse to walk thru, no matter how slowly they go. Disaster just waiting to happen. Small cross rails, the tires used as barrels, raised walk over made with poles, back thru poles laid on ground in an L shape. A sturdy bridge, could be flat, or curved to walk over.

This lady is really vague. She just wants "obstacles." Based on what she's currently doing, I'd say Western obstacles mostly. I don't think anyone out there is ready for jumps, although I was thinking maybe we could lay some loose poles down for trotting over. We were also thinking of using tires stacked up as "barrels" and some tires lined up that the horses would have to step (slowly) in. Also one of those pool noodle things that the horses have to walk through.

Thanks!

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I don't ever use loose poles. They're very dangerous. Poles need some sort of 'x' on their ends to prevent them from rolling.

Nothing wrong with loose poles if they have a flat side or are square. AND I've used round ones and haven't had a problem.

Anyway, a bridge is a good thing to built and also a gate, but creating two "standards" and using a rope as the gate. It's tied to the standard on one end and has a big loop on the other end to fit over the other standard.